710 THE TETRAODONTOIDEA GILL. 



did not actually give the etymology of his name and those who would 

 be distressed by the form of the name may derive it from Ganthus, one 

 of the Argonauts, and gaster, belly, and assume it to refer to the ability 

 to swell the belly* and thus float along. Bleeker attempted to correct 

 the word to Ganthogaster and used the name Gantliogastrini as the desig- 

 nation of a '^phalanx" in his system. Jordan and Edwards have pre- 

 served the form Ganthigaster and used Ganthigasterinw as a subfamily 

 name. I propose also to retain the name Ganthigaster and derive from it 

 the family name Ganthigaster idee.] 



1839.) LEIODON. (Swaiuson. 



In 1839 Swaiuson introduced a new generic name with the following 



diagnosis: 



ietsoMiHS Sw. — Head short; the body entirely smooth. 

 T. Ja'vissimHS. Sch.§ 



marmoratus. Hamilt. pi. 18, fig. 3, T. (Monotretus) cutcutia, G. viii, 290. 



On a previous page he had, in the same sequence under Tetraodince, 

 the following genus: 

 Leiodoti. — Head short; body entirely smooth. 



No species was mentioned. 



Leisomus marmoratus was a substitute for T. cutcutia of Hamilton. 

 There is no " T. UevissimKs " in Bloch and Schneider's "■ Systema Ichthyo- 

 logia},"aud Swaiuson has simply copied the name from the R^gne Ani- 

 mal of Cuvier, who, in his second section of the genus Tetraodon, char- 

 acterized by the entire body smooth, grouped two species : " T. Icevis- 

 simus BL, Schn."; and " T. cutcutia, Buchan, xiii, 3." 



There is n Grayracion Uvvissimufi o/ Klein | (the Spheroides maculatus), 

 and Cuvier may have, by slip of memory, substituted ''Bl., Schn." for 

 Klein. But, as it is, the first species of Swainson's genus is indeter- 

 minable and the merits of his genus (for practical purposes) must be 

 determined by the only species identifiable. That species is typical 

 of a good genus and, for a wonder, Swainson's diagnosis is applicable 

 and almost distinctive, though the full force of it can only be appre- 

 ciated by one who knows the crania of the genera of Tetraodontince. 



In 1855 Bibron introduced a new generic name, Monotrete, for the T. 



* Unfortunately the species of the genus are less endowed with this capacity than 

 the typical Tetraodonlidw. 



t According to Richardson (Zoiil. Herald, p. 162), "Pn7oHo/MS is a name invented 

 by Miiller, and is niontioned by him in his ' Fortsetzung der Myxinoden,' and the 

 Archis' fiir Natnrgescliichtc fur 1841, but I have not found his detailed account of the 

 characters. Dr. Kauj> cnnnicrates the following species: Pril. rostratus J-iiu. {mar- 

 garitatiis Riippell, solandri Richardson), miUepiuictatiis, occipitalis, oculifer, insigni' 

 tus, cdrulco-jiunctalus, and ^ncius." The appearance of the nasal depression is fully 

 described as it appeared to Richardson. As already indicated, Prilonotus is a slip 

 for the Swainsonian name Piiilonotus, and does not occur in Miiller's work. 



\ Grayracion la'vissimus Klein Hist. Pise. Nat. prom. Miss, tertius, p. 18, pi. .3, f. 5, 

 1742. 



